The purpose of such analysis is threefold: (1) to aid in understanding how energy conversion takes

place, (2) to provide techniques for designing and optimizing the devices for specific requirements,
and (3) to develop models of electromechanical- energy-conversion devices that can be used in
analyzing their performance as compo- nents in engineering systems. Transducers and force-
producing devices are treated in this chapter; continuous energy-conversion devices are treated in
the rest of the book.
The concepts and techniques presented in this chapter are quite powerful and can be applied to a
wide range of engineering situations involving electromechanical energy conversion. Sections 3.1
and 3.2 present a quantitative discussion of the forces in electromechanical systems and an
overview of the energy method which forms the basis for the derivations presented here. Based
upon the energy method, the remainder of the chapter develops expressions for forces and torques
in magnetic-field-based electromechanical systems.

3.1 FORCES AND TORQUES IN MAGNETIC FIELD SYSTEMS

The Lorentz Force Law

F = q(E + v B) (3.1)
gives the force F on a particle of charge q in the presence of electric and magnetic fields. In SI
units, F is in newtons, q in coulombs, E in volts per meter, B in teslas, and v, which is the velocity of
the particle relative to the magnetic field, in meters per second.
Thus, in a pure electric-field system, the force is determined simply by the charge on the particle
and the electric field
F = qE (3.2)
The force acts in the direction of the electric field and is independent of any particle motion.
In pure magnetic-field systems, the situation is somewhat more complex. Here the force
F = q(v B) (3.3)
is determined by the magnitude of the charge on the particle and the magnitude of the B field as
well as the velocity of the particle. In fact, the direction of the force is always perpendicular to the
direction of both the particle motion and that of the magnetic field. Mathematically, this is indicated
by the vector cross product v B in Eq. 3.3. The magnitude of this cross product is equal to the
product of the magnitudes of v and B and the sine of the angle between them; its direction can be
found from the fight-hand rule, which states that when the thumb of the fight hand points in the
direction of v and the index finger points in the direction of B, the force, which is perpendicular to
the directions of both B and v, points in the direction normal to the palm of the hand, as shown in
Fig. 3.1.
For situations where large numbers of charged particles are in motion, it is con- venient to rewrite
Eq. 3.1 in terms of the charge density p (measured in units of coulombs per cubic meter) as
Fv = p(E + v B) (3.4)
where the subscript v indicates that Fv is aforce density (force per unit volume) which in SI units is
measured in newtons per cubic meter.
The product pv is known as the current density
J = pv (3.5)
which has the units of amperes per square meter. The magnetic-system force density
Fv = J x B
For currents flowing in conducting media, Eq. 3.6 can be used to find the force density acting on
the material itself. Note that a considerable amount of physics is hidden in this seemingly simple
statement, since the mechanism by which the force is transferred from the moving charges to the
conducting medium is a complex one.

For situations in which the forces act only on current-carrying elements and which are of simple
geometry (such as that of Example 3.1), Eq. 3.6 is generally the simplest and easiest way to
calculate the forces acting on the system. Unfortunately, very few practical situations fall into this
class. In fact, as discussed in Chapter 1, most electromechanical-energy-conversion devices
contain magnetic material; in these sys- tems, forces act directly on the magnetic material and
clearly cannot be calculated from Eq. 3.6.
Techniques for calculating the detailed, localized forces acting on magnetic ma- terials are
extremely complex and require detailed knowledge of the field distribution throughout the structure.
Fortunately, most electromechanical-energy-conversion de- vices are constructed of rigid,
nondeforming structures. The performance of these devices is typically determined by the net
force, or torque, acting on the moving component, and it is rarely necessary to calculate the details
of the internal force distribution. For example, in a properly designed motor, the motor
characteristics are determined by the net accelerating torque acting on the rotor; accompanying
forces,which act to squash or deform the rotor, play no significant role in the performance of the
motor and generally are not calculated.

3.2 ENERGY BALANCE

The principle of conservation of energy states that energy is neither created nor destroyed; it is
merely changed in form. For example, a golf ball leaves the tee with a certain amount of kinetic
energy; this energy is eventually dissipated as heat due to air friction or rolling friction by the time
the ball comes to rest on the fairway. Similarly, the kinetic energy of a hammer is eventually
dissipated as heat as a nail is driven into a piece of wood. For isolated systems with clearly
identifiable boundaries, this fact permits us to keep track of energy in a simple fashion: the net flow
of energy into the system across its boundary is equal to the sum of the time rate of change of
energy stored in the system.
This result, which is a statement of the first law of thermodynamics, is quite general.

3.3 ENERGY IN SINGLY-EXCITED MAGNETIC FIELD SYSTEMS

In Chapters 1 and 2 we were concerned primarily with fixed-geometry magnetic circuits such as
those used for transformers and inductors. Energy in those devices is stored in the leakage fields
and to some extent in the core itself. However, the stored energy does not enter directly into the
transformation process. In this chapter we are dealing with energy-conversion systems; the
magnetic circuits have air gaps between the stationary and moving members in which considerable
energy is stored in the magnetic field. This field acts as the energy-conversion medium, and its
energy is the reservoir between the electric and mechanical systems.
The resis- tance of the excitation coil is shown as an external resistance R, and the mechanical
terminal variables are shown as a force fnd produced by the magnetic field directed from the relay
to the external mechanical system and a displacement x; mechanical losses can be included as
external elements connected to the mechanical terminal. Similarly, the moving armature is shown
as being massless; its mass represents me- chanical energy storage and can be included as an
external mass connected to the mechanical terminal. As a result, the magnetic core and armature
constitute a lossless magnetic-energy-storage system,
This relay structure is essentially the same as the magnetic structures analyzed in Chapter 1. In
Chapter 1 we saw that the magnetic circuit of Fig. 3.4 can be described by an inductance L which
is a function of the geometry of the magnetic structure and thepermeability of the magnetic
material. Electromechanical-energy-conversion devices contain air gaps in their magnetic circuits
to separate the moving parts. As discussed in Section 1.1, in most such cases the reluctance of the
air gap is much larger than that of the magnetic material. Thus the predominant energy storage
occurs in the air gap, and the properties of the magnetic circuit are determined by the dimensions
of the air gap.
Because of the simplicity of the resulting relations, magnetic nonlinearity and core losses are often
neglected in the analysis of practical devices. The final results of such approximate analyses can, if
necessary, be corrected for the effects of these neglected factors by semi-empirical methods.
Consequently, analyses are carried out under the assumption that the flux and mmf are directly